LAUNCHED MISSIONS

Kanopus V5 and V6: Launched 2018

SSTL has supplied suites of satellite avionics and software plus system design support, power management and batteries, on board computers and data handling capabilities for satellite subsystems and satellite operations to NPP VNIIEM for their KANOPUS-V satellite programmes.

SSTL has also supported spacecraft assembly, integration and in orbit commissioning activities for these satellites in Russia.

Satellite & Launch Data

Name:
Kanopus V5 and V6

Customer:
VNIIEM

Mission:
Earth Observation

Launch Date:
27 December 2018

Launch Site:
Vostochny, Russia

Launcher:
Soyuz

VESTA: Launched 2018

VESTA is a 3U nanosatellite technology demonstration mission that will test a new two-way VHF Data Exchange System (VDES) payload developed by Honeywell for the exactEarth advanced maritime satellite constellation. The 4kg satellite has 3-axis pointing capability, an SEU tolerant on-board computer, VxWorks operating system and also flies a Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) VHF deployable antenna system developed by Innovative Solutions in Space for the VDES transceiver.

Satellite & Launch Data

VESTA is a flagship project of the National Space Technology Programme, funded by the UK Space Agency and managed by the Centre for EO Instrumentation and Space Technology (CEOI-ST).

Name:
VESTA

Customer:
Honeywell

Mission:
Technology Demonstration

Mass:
4kg

Platform:
SSTL-12 Nano

Launch date:
3 December 2018

Launcher:
SpaceX Falcon 9

Launch site:
Vandenberg Air Force Base

Orbit:
575km sun-synchronous

KazSTSAT: Launched 2018

KazSTSAT is a small Earth observation satellite jointly developed by SSTL and JV Ghalam LLP. The satellite has a mass of 105kg and will acquire image data at 18.7 m GSD with a swath width of 275 km. The spacecraft carries several experimental and demonstration units, including a beyond diffraction limit imager, a sun sensor, and a novel OBCARM. KazSTSAT will be operated by Ghalam, using a fully virtualized ground segment with S/X-band software defined back-ends deployed at KSAT ground stations in Svalbard and a technology demonstration ground station in Astana.

NovaSAR-1: Launched 2018

NovaSAR-1 is a small Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) mission designed for low-cost programmes and optimised for shared launch opportunities. The system baselines SSTL-300 avionics with an imaging payload developed by the space borne SAR team at Airbus in Portsmouth, UK, and S-band solid state power amplifier technology.

NovaSAR-1 has been part-funded by the UK Government. Mission partners signed up for capacity from NovaSAR-1 include the UK Space Agency, Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), and the Indian Space Reseach Organisation (ISRO).

SSTL S1-4: Launched 2018

The SSTL S1-4 satellite has a mass of 440kg and is capable of acquiring multiple targets in one pass and will utilise spot, strip and mosaic imaging modes and 45 degree off-pointing agility for a range of applications including urban planning, agricultural monitoring, land classification, natural resource management and disaster monitoring. The very high resolution imager on board the spacecraft was designed and manufactured by SSTL and acquires sub 1 metre resolution images in panchromatic mode and sub 4 metre resolution images in multispectral mode, with a swath width of about 20.8km.

Data capacity from the satellite is leased to Airbus and Twenty First Century Aerospace Technology Co Ltd (21AT).

Kanopus V3 & V4: Launched 2018

SSTL has supplied suites of satellite avionics and software plus system design support, power management and batteries, on board computers and data handling capabilities for satellite subsystems and satellite operations to NPP VNIIEM for their KANOPUS-V satellite programmes.

SSTL has also supported spacecraft assembly, integration and in orbit commissioning activities in Russia.

Satellite & Launch Data

RemoveDEBRIS: Launched 2018

Remove Debris was deployed from the International Space Station on 20th June 2018, with launch service interface and launch provision by NanoRacks and NASA respectively.

The RemoveDEBRIS mission will perform a number of active space debris removal technology demonstrations, testing novel technologies, representative of an operational scenario during a low-cost mission.

We designed and manufactured the Remove Debris satellite platform, which hosts the payloads for use in the debris removal demonstrations. These payloads, or technical content within them, have been produced by mission partners Airbus, ArianeGroup, CSEM, Inria, ISIS, SSC, and Stellenbosch University.

RemoveDEBRIS is operated in orbit by SSTL's engineers from our Spacecraft Operations Centre in Guildford.

Satellite & Launch Data

The RemoveDEBRIS mission will perform four innovative Active Debris Removal (ADR) experiments - the first, the deployment of a net developed by Airbus in Bremen designed to capture a target cubesat, was successfully completed on 16 September 2018.

The mission will also test a vision-based navigation system from Airbus in Toulouse and CSEM in Switzerland that uses 2D and 3D LiDaR (light detection and ranging) technology to track a cubesat released from the main spacecraft, and a harpoon developed by Airbus in Stevenage fired at 20 metres/second to penetrate a target made of composite material. Finally, the RemoveDEBRIS craft will deploy a large dragsail to speed de-orbit into the Earth’s atmosphere.

The Remove Debris mission has received funding from the European Commission. Specifically, the research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement #607099.

Name:
RemoveDEBRIS

Customer:
RemoveDEBRIS consortium

Mission:
Active debris removal

Mass:
>100kg

Launched to the International Space Station on 2nd April 2018 via SpaceX CRS-14

Deployed from the International Space Station on 20 June 2018 via Nanorack's Kaber Microsatellite deployer

Net experiment successfully completed 16 September 2018

CARBONITE-2: Launched 2018

CARBONITE-2 is a 100kg earth observation technology demonstration mission owned and operated by SSTL. It demonstrates a low cost video-from-orbit solution designed to deliver 1m resolution images and colour HD video clips with a swath width of 5km.

Satellite & Launch Data

CARBONITE-2 is the second technology demonstration mission in the series to be launched by SSTL; the first, CARBONITE-1, was launched in 2015.

Data from CARBONITE-2 is provided to Earth-i, a British satellite imagery and Earth Observation analytics company, and to the Royal Air Force to expand further their growing Air and Space capabilities.

Name:
CARBONITE-2

Customer:
SSTL tech demo. Data provision to Earth-i and UK MoD

Mission:
Earth Observation video-from-orbit

Mass:
100kg

Launch Date:
12 January 2018 03:59 UTC

Launch Site:
Sriharikota, India

Launcher:
PSLV

Orbit:
505km sun-synchronous

Telesat LEO Phase 1 satellite: Launched 2018

SSTL supplied a small low earth orbit (LEO) satellite to Telesat, a leading global satellite operator, as part of a test and validation phase for an advanced, global LEO satellite constellation.

The satellite flies an SSTL-built Ka payload and utilises hydrazine propulsion systems for in-orbit raising and de-orbiting. It is operated by Telesat in low earth orbit at ~1000km

Satellite & Launch Data

Kanopus V IR: Launched 2017

Kanopus V IR is an Earth Observation satellite manufactured by Russia’s NPP VNIIEM with spacecraft avionics, computers and power distribution from SSTL.

Kanopus-V IR is fitted with an additional infrared imaging payload and a Panchromatic Imaging System (PSS), a Multispectral Imaging System (MSS) and a prototype Multispectral Scanner Unit (MSU-200). The panchromatic imager, has a resolution of 2.5 metres.

Satellite & Launch Data

Lomonosov: Launched 2016

Lomonosov is a mission for Russia to study transient phenomena in the Earth's upper atmosphere, cosmic rays and gamma ray bursts.

SSTL supplied satellite avionics and software plus system design support, power management and batteries, on board computers and data handling capabilities for satellite subsystems and satellite operations to NPP VNIIEM for this satellite programme.

Lomonosov is a mission for Russia to study transient phenomena in the Earth's upper atmosphere, cosmic rays and gamma ray bursts.

Satellite & Launch Data

Name:
Lomonosov

Customer:
VNIIEM

Mission:
Science

Launch Date:
28 April 2016

Launch Site:
Vostochny, Russia

Launcher:
Soyuz 2

Orbit:
LEO

AlSat-1B: Launched 2016

AlSat-1B is based on the SSTL-100 platform, hosting a 24m multispectral imager and a 12m panchromatic imager. Eighteen ASAL engineers undertook the Assembly, Integration and Test phase of the satellite in Algeria, offering further opportunities for the transfer of skills and the development of local capabilities.

Satellite & Launch Data

DMC3/TripleSat Constellation: Launched 2015

Under a £110m contract SSTL designed and manufactured three SSTL-300S1 satellite platforms, a new smallsat design which provides unparalleled 1 metre high resolution imagery with high speed downlink and 45 degree off-pointing.

The three satellites formed a new constellation, TripleSat, with daily revisit times which is crucial for change detection, disaster monitoring and response planning, and essential for acquiring cloud-free imagery.

Satellite & Launch Data

The SSTL-300S1 satellite design features advanced avionics and optical systems that make it possible to perform several different types of imaging such as mapping terrain, strip imaging and mosaic imaging for wide areas.

Beijing-based commercial imaging company, 21AT, has leased 100% of the imaging capacity of the three satellites.

Name:
DMC3

Customer:
DMCii/21AT

Mission:
Earth Observation

Mass:
440kg

Launch Date:
10 July 2015, 16.28 UTC

Launch Site:
Sriharikota, India

Launcher:
PSLV-XL

Orbit:
650km sun-synchronous

CARBONITE-1: Launched 2015

CARBONITE-1 is a technology demonstration mission for SSTL, designed to demonstrate video-from-orbit capability using rapid-build techniques and to test COTS components and new avionics in orbit.

The satellite was designed, built and tested in 6 months and 12 days. In an orbit of 500km the imager is designed to provide 1m GSD with a swath width of 5km. The Commercial-off-the-Shelf industrial video camera, adapted by SSTL for space provides 15 second HD video clips at 1m GSD.

Satellite & Launch Data

Name:
CARBONITE-1

Customer:
SSTL

Mission:
Technology demonstration

Mass:
80kg

Launch Date:
10 July 2015

Launch Site:
Sriharikota, India

Launcher:
PSLV-XL

Orbit:
680km

TechDemoSat-1: Launched 2014

UK industry and academia worked together with Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) on a new innovative satellite to trial UK space technologies and provide an ‘in-orbit test facility’ for innovative UK payloads and software.

At around one meter cubed (roughly the size of a washing machine) and a surprisingly light mass of around 150kg, TechDemoSat (TDS-1) carries eight payloads plus a mixture of heritage and new product development systems from SSTL.

Satellite & Launch Data

The payloads flying on TechDemoSat-1 are:
• MuREM, a flexible miniature radiation and effects monitor from Surrey Space Centre
• ChaPS, a prototype compact instrument to detect electrons and ions from the Mullard Space Science Laboratory
• HMRM, a lightweight, ultra-compact radiation monitor designed to measure total radiation dose, particle flux rate and identify electrons, protons and ions from Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and Imperial College
• LUCID, a device to measure characterisation of the energy, type, intensity and directionality of high energy particles from the Langton Star Centre
• Compact Modular Sounder system, a modular infrared remote sensing radiometer unit from Oxford University’s Planetary Group and Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
• De-orbit sail from Cranfield University
• Cubesat ADCS, a 3-axes attitude determination and control subsystem from SSBV
• Sea State Payload, a device using an enhanced GPS receiver from SSTL and components from a Synthetic Aperture Radar from Airbus Defence and Space to monitor reflected signals to determine ocean roughness.

Our Space GNSS Receiver-Remote Sensing Instrument (SGR-ReSI) on board TechDemoSat-1 is able to calculate the satellite's position and speed in much the same way as does a car-based SatNav, by measuring ranges and triangulating its position from high altitude GNSS satellites orbiting 20,000km above the satellite itself. The SGR-ReSI also carries a high gain nadir (downward-pointing) antenna to utilise a technique called GNSS reflectometry where the GNSS signals scattered off the Earth’s surface are collected and measured. These are then used to gather weather data sets including delay Doppler maps and wind speed analysis over oceans, which are released on the website www.merrbys.org

Day-to-day operation of the payloads is handled by the Satellite Applications Catapult in Harwell, and SSTL manages spacecraft level monitoring and operations for TechDemoSat-1 in Guildford.

Satellite & Launch Data

STRaND-1: Launched 2013

Space researchers at the University of Surrey's Surrey Space Centre and SSTL engineers developed STRaND-1, a 3U CubeSat weighing 3.5kg containing a smartphone payload that was launched into orbit in 2013. STRaND-1 was built in engineer's free time using advanced commercial off-the-shelf components.

Satellite & Launch Data

At the heart of the satellite was a Google Nexus One smartphone with an Android operating system which the STRaND team hoped to use for some of the satellite's in-orbit operations thereby testing the capabilities of a number of standard smartphone components for a space environment.

STRaND-1 also flew innovative new technologies such as a WARP DRiVE (Water Alcohol Resistojet Propulsion Deorbit Re-entry Velocity Experiment), and electric Pulsed Plasma Thrusters (PPTs); both firsts to fly on a nanosatellite. It is also flying a 3D printed part - believed to be the first to fly in space!

Due to issues with the antenna, communications with STRaND-1 have been patchy and it has not been possible to switch on the smartphone onboard the satellite for long enough to use it for satellite operations.

SAPPHIRE is a key element of the Canadian Space Surveillance System, and is a contributing sensor to the US Space Surveillance Network. It is a space-based electro-optical sensor that will provide accurate and timely tracking data to the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND) on space objects at orbit altitudes between 6,000km and 40,000km.

MDA is the prime contractor for the SAPPHIRE mission, including launch.

Satellite & Launch Data

Customer:
MacDonald Dettwiler Associates (Prime, supplying to Canadian Department of National Defence)

Mission:
Space situational awareness

Mass:
150kg

Launch Date:
25 February 2013 12.31 UTC

Launch Site:
Sriharikota, India

Launcher:
PSLV-C20

Orbit:
750km sun-synchronous

exactView-1: Launched 2012

We supplied the platform for exactView-1 which forms part of the ExactEARTH AIS constellation used by ships and traffic to monitor ship movements through busy shipping channels and harbours and to provide information on global shipping movements.

exactView-1 was launched on 22nd July 2012 on a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Kanopus (V1) & Kanopus (BKA) Launched 2012

SSTL has supplied suites of satellite avionics and software plus system design support, power management and batteries, on board computers and data handling capabilities for satellite subsystems and satellite operations to NPP VNIIEM for their KANOPUS-V1 satellite programme. SSTL has also supported spacecraft assembly and integration activities in Russia.

KANOPUS-V1 has been developed for Russia and will record abnormal phenomena to study the possibility of earthquake prediction as well as monitoring agriculture, water and coastal resources. The satellites carry a Russian-built 2.1m panchromatic imager plus a 10.5m multispectral imager.

Satellite & Launch Data

KANOPUS - V1 is a mission for Russia to record abnormal phenomena to study the possibility of earthquake prediction and, in addition to this, monitoring agriculture, water and coastal resources.

KANOPUS - BKA is a mission for Belarus for monitoring development of large building projects including gas and oil pipelines, railways, hydropower stations as well as geological investigation and environmental monitoring.

Name:
Kanopus (Vulcan), Kanopus (BKA)

Customer:
VNIIEM

Mission:
Remote sensing

Launch Date:
22/07/12 06:41:39

Launch Site:
Baikonur, Kazakhstan

Launcher:
Soyuz

NigeriaSat-2: Launched 2011

The NigeriaSat-2 Earth observation satellite provides the Nigerian National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) and the Disaster Monitoring Constellation with very high resolution imaging capability. The satellite is based on the SSTL-300 platform, a highly agile design that delivers multiple viewing modes to a maximum of 2.5m panchromatic (black and white) ground sample distance (GSD) and 5m multispectral (colour) GSD across a 20km swath width.

Satellite & Launch Data

The NigeriaSat-2 satellite is used primarily for resource management and mapping of the Nigerian territory as well as providing imagery for disaster monitoring.

Name:
NigeriaSat-2

Customer:
NASRDA

Mission:
Earth Observation

Mass:
270kg

Launch Date:
Aug 17 2011 7:12AM

Launch Site:
Yasny, Russia

Launcher:
DNEPR

Orbit:
700km altitude, sun-synchronous orbit, 22:30 LTAN

NigeriaSat-X: Launched 2011

The NigeriaSat-X Earth observation satellite provides the Nigerian National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) and the Disaster Monitoring Constellation with 22m imaging capability. The spacecraft delivers 22m GSD across a 600km swath width.

NigeriaSat-X was used as a Training Model spacecraft for the team of Nigerian engineers who participated in SSTL’s training and development programme. Over a period of 18 months, the Nigerian engineers were based at SSTL in the UK and were involved in the design, manufacture and test phases of the NigeriaSat-X spacecraft in a controlled real project, real engineering environment. After launch, NigeriaSat-X was commissioned in orbit by the Nigerian engineers.

Satellite & Launch Data

NigeriaSat-X is used primarily for resource management and mapping of the Nigerian territory.

NigeriaSatX operates within the Disaster Monitoring Constellation, the first Earth observation constellation of low cost small satellites providing daily images for applications including global disaster monitoring.

Name:
NigeriaSat-X

Customer:
NASRDA

Mission:
Earth Observation

Mass:
85.6kg

Launch Date:
Aug 17 2011 7:12AM

Launch Site:
Yasny, Russia

Launcher:
DNEPR

Orbit:
700km altitude, sun-synchronous orbit, 22:30 LAN

Deimos-1: Launched 2009

SSTL designed and manufactured Deimos-1 for the commercial imaging company, DEIMOS Imaging, an Urthecast company.

Deimos-1 carries a multispectral optical instrument with a spatial resolution of 22 metres and a wide swath of more than 600 km. Due to its large swath, the satellite is capable of delivering double full coverage of Spain and Portugal every week, and a full coverage of Europe every 10 days.

Deimos-1 also operates within the Disaster Monitoring Constellation, the first Earth observation constellation of low cost small satellites providing daily images for applications including global disaster monitoring.

Satellite & Launch Data

UK-DMC2 operates within the Disaster Monitoring Constellation, the first Earth observation constellation of low cost small satellites providing daily images for applications including global disaster monitoring.

Name:
UK-DMC2

Customer:
DMCii

Mission:
Earth Observation

Mass:
96.5kg

Launch Date:
29 July 2009

Launch Site:
Baikonur, Kazakhstan

Launcher:
DNEPR

Orbit:
N/A

RapidEyes 1-5: Launched 2008

SSTL manufactured five SSTL-150 platforms for the RapidEye constellation which launched in 2008.

RapidEye is a commercial small satellite mission developed by MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates for RapidEye AG, a German geospatial organisation. The constellation was subsequently sold to BlackBridge and is now owned and managed by Planet.

The high quality data from the constellation is used for agriculture, infrastructure and environmental & social studies.

CFESat: Launched 2007

SSTL supplied the platform for the Cibola Flight Experiment satellite (CFESat) to LANL.

CFESat examines radio spectra for ionosphere and lightning studies, using field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). As well as science observation, the mission aims to show use of reconfigurable FPGAs to work in the radiation environment of low Earth orbit.

Satellite & Launch Data

GIOVE-A: Launched 2005

GIOVE-A was developed by SSTL for the European Space Agency to secure the Galileo frequency filings at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

The satellite also played a crucial role as the test-bed for the Galileo payload units, providing a representative signal-in-space for ground-based experimentation with Galileo signals as well as characterising the radiation environment for the Medium Earth Orbit used by all future Galileo satellites.

The satellite was designed, built and tested in a rapid 30 month programme and launched on schedule on 28th December 2005, allowing ESA to claim the frequency filings for the Galileo programme three months before the licence expired.

On the 2nd May 2007 GIOVE-A successfully transmitted the first European navigation message from space, containing the information needed by users' receivers to calculate their position.

In 2012 SSTL's experimental GPS receiver on-board GIOVE-A successfully achieved a GPS position fix at 23,300km altitude - the first position fix above the GPS constellation on a civilian satellite.

Satellite & Launch Data

GIOVE-A was designed and sized for a 27 month mission using SSTL's standard core approaches and standards, and even employs some COTS (Commercial-Off-The-Shelf) based subsystems. Although still operational, it was officially retired from its orginal mission for the European Space Agency on 30th June 2012, having been successfully operating for much more than double its design life.

The spacecraft has continued to be operated by SSTL and is used for testing, including SSTL's SGR-GEO GPS receiver.

Beijing-1 provides the Chinese government and commercial users with information on agriculture, water resources, environment and disaster monitoring throughout China. The satellite is also used extensively for monitoring urban development and pollution and to generate digital maps of China using the high-resolution panchromatic imager.

Satellite & Launch Data

The satellite is capable of continuously imaging Chinese territory even at the longest landmass track (3000 km) and transmits images to the groundstation in Beijing in real-time at high speed (40Mbps) with on-board programmable compression. Image data gathered outside the reach of the groundstation is stored on-board in a hard disc mass storage device for retrieval at night or later on demand.

Beijing-1 is a member of the Disaster Monitoring Constellation.

BLMIT is a private company established to manage the commercial data distribution and services of Beijing-1.

Name:
Beijing-1

Customer:
BLMIT

Mission:
Earth Observation

Mass:
163kg

Launch Date:
28 October 2005

Launch Site:
Plesetsk Kosmodrome, Russia

Launcher:
COSMOS-3M

TopSat: Launched 2005

TopSat was designed to use controlled spacecraft manoeuvres to increase the exposure time of images. This ensured high-resolution images could be obtained, even in poor light. The single instrument on board is an imager collecting 17 x 17 km images of the earth with a panchromatic (black and white) resolution of 2.5 metres and a multispectral (colour) resolution of 5 metres. The camera was designed at STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.

Satellite & Launch Data

TopSat image data was used by the Ministry of Defence and UK universities for a variety of applications including mapping or land-use monitoring.

QinetiQ developed the initial concept for the mission, and helped to build the consortium of organisations that worked on it. QinetiQ was also the mission's prime contractor and was involved in providing the on board payload control and parts of the mission control system.

Name:
TopSat

Customer:
QinetiQ/BNSC/UK MoD

Mission:
Earth Observation

Mass:
113kg

Launch Date:
28 October 2005

Launch Site:
Plesetsk Kosmodrome, Russia

Launcher:
COSMOS-3M

Orbit:
686km

UK-DMC-1: Launched 2003

UK-DMC-1 was an earth observation satellite for the then BNSC (now the UK Space Agency). It carried a 32m imager operating in 3 spectral bands.

UK-DMC-1 operated within the Disaster Monitoring Constellation, the first Earth observation constellation of low cost small satellites providing daily images for applications including global disaster monitoring.

Satellite & Launch Data

UK-DMC-1 carried experimental payloads including:

The CLEO Cisco router which demonstrated the first use of the Interplanetary Internet v6 in space.

An experiment demonstrating GNSS reflectometry.
The concept was successfully demonstrated and an updated GNSS reflectometry payload was flown on TechDemoSat-1, launched in 2014, with data successfully generating Delay Doppler diagrams, translated by the National Oceanographic Centre into sea-state diagrams.

A water resistojet propulsion system.
UK-DMC-1 carried an experimental water resistojet propulsion system, developed by SSTL. The water propulsion system was designed and built in less than 6 months with a total system mass of 188g, which included 2.06g of propellant. The thruster was orientated to spin up the spacecraft, and its thrust was measured using the reaction wheels to compensate for the torque generated. Average thrust of 3.3mN was achieved.

UK-DMC-1 was placed in a lower orbit in November 2010, as it neared the end of its operational life. Daily operations ceased in November 2011, after over eight years in orbit.

Name:
UK-DMC-1

Customer:
BNSC

Mission:
Earth Observation

Mass:
90.1kg

Launch Date:
27 September 2003

Launch Site:
Plesetsk Kosmodrome, Russia

Launcher:
COSMOS-3M

Orbit:
686km sun-synchronous

NigeriaSat-1: Launched 2003

Built under a training and transfer programme with the Nigeria Space Research & Development Agency, the 100kg NigeriaSat-1 satellite provided 32m multispectral imaging with a 600km wide swath. The imaging system was fitted with normalised differential vegetative index (NDVI) technology capable of giving early warning signals of natural and environmental disasters.

Hurricane Katrina
In August 2005, the seventh most intense Atlantic hurricane hit the Gulf coast of America where it caused severe destruction and flooding resulting in over 1,800 deaths. The worst affected area was New Orleans, where the levee system failed and 80% of the city was flooded. NigeriaSat-1 provided the first satellite image of New Orleans to the USA’s disaster response co-ordinators. It captured a wide-area image that showed breaks in the levee system along the coastline, and the extensive inland flooding of the city.

Satellite & Launch Data

BILSAT-1: Launched 2003

BILSAT-1 was the first Turkish Scientific Earth Observation satellite and was built under a training and development programme between SSTL and TUBITAK-BILTEN. The satellite benefited from on-board propulsion, GPS navigation and included experimental payloads including a multi-band imaging system, a real time image compression module, a GPS attitude receiver and a Control Moment Gyro. BILSAT-1 also hosted new technologies such as high capacity solid-state data recorders and star trackers.

BILSAT-1 carried five Earth observation cameras, one panchromatic and the remaining four obtained images in the red, green, blue and near-infrared bands.

Satellite & Launch Data

In addition to these cameras, BILSAT-1 carried two payloads designed and built by TUBITAK-ODTU-BILTEN:

The first, named COBAN, is a nine-band low resolution multi-spectral imager.

The second, named GEZGIN, is a DSP based image processing module that uses the JPEG2000 algorithm to compress images taken by BILSAT-1's on board cameras.

Both of these payloads were designed and built by Turkish engineers in the context of a training programme that ran in parallel with the BILSAT project

For the processing and compression of the collected multispectral images, a real-time image-processing card that used the JPEG 2000 multispectral compression algorithm was on the satellite as a research and development payload. The card was designed by BILTEN engineers.

BILSAT-1 was a member of the Disaster Monitoring Constellation until it was taken out of operation in 2006.

Name:
BILSAT-1

Customer:
TUBITAK (Turkey)

Mission:
Earth Observation

Mass:
130.1kg

Launch Date:
27 September 2003

Launch Site:
Plesetsk Kosmodrome, Russia

Launcher:
COSMOS-3M

Orbit:
686km sun-synchronous

ALSAT-1: Launched 2002

ALSAT-1 was Algeria's first national satellite and was designed and constructed by SSTL within a collaborative programme with the Algerian Centre National des Techniques Spatiales (CNTS).

Satellite & Launch Data

A joint British-Algerian team of SSTL & CNTS engineers successfully completed the manufacture and pre-flight testing of the enhanced microsatellite during a 15-month programme which included training for the 11 Algerian engineers at SSTL.

Name:
ALSAT-1

Customer:
CNTS, Algeria

Mission:
Earth Observation

Mass:
90.3kg

Launch Date:
28 November 2002

Launch Site:
Plesetsk Kosmodrome, Russia

Launcher:
COSMOS-3M

Orbit:
700km sun-synchronous

PICOSat: Launched 2001

PICOSat was designed and built to test electronic components/systems in space conditions for the US Air Force. It carried four test payloads: Polymer Battery Experiment (PBEX), Ionospheric Occultation Experiment (IOX), Coherent Electromagnetic Radio Tomography (CERTO) and an ultra-quiet platform (OPPEX).

PICOSat was designed for a minimum of one year of on orbit operations. PICOSat used a gravity gradient boom for stabilization. The Ultra-Quiet Platform (UQP), developed by the Air Force Research Lab, aimed to provide a 10:1 reduction in vibration isolation over a 100 Hz bandwidth between the spacecraft bus and a science payload.

Satellite & Launch Data

Name:
PICOSat

Customer:
USAF

Mission:
Military Demonstrator

Mass:
67.2kg

Launch Date:
30 September 2001

Launch Site:
Kodiak, USA

Launcher:
ATHENA-1

Orbit:
800km

Tsinghua-1: Launched 2000

Tsinghua-1 was a microsatellite developed and built in a joint venture between SSTL and Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. A team of 10 Chinese researchers from Tsinghua University worked alongside the SSTL team during the 18 month project.

Tsinghua-1 was a 50kg demonstrator microsatellite with a mission to demonstrate high-resolution imaging for disaster monitoring and mitigation and conduct communications research in LEO.

Satellite & Launch Data

The spacecraft was three-axis stabilized using a combination of passive (gravity-gradient boom) and active (magnetorquers, reaction wheels) actuator elements. The platform was nadir pointing. with the capability to perform fast slew maneuvers within ±15º about the roll axis (or ±180º about the yaw axis). An off-nadir pointing configuration could be sustained for up to half an orbit. Onboard data handling was provided with a dual CAN (Controller Area Network) bus (ISO 11898 & ISO 11519-1) 20 Mbit/s, and INMOS serial point-to-point link 9.6 kbit/s asynchronous duplex UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter).

The Tsinghua-1 spacecraft ceased to be operational on 26th December 2002 providing mission operations for 900 days.
From launch to the end of the mission the microsatellite was controlled by the Tsinghua ground station located at Tsinghua University. During the operational period, a lot of testing and experimentation were done, including 3-axis stabilized control experiments, GPS testing based on commercial components in orbit, data transfer, etc. More than 1200 images were taken, and over 11,000 telemetry files and 850 MByte telemetry data were downloaded, including subsystem status data, power, temperature, attitude sensor output, tele-commands, etc.

Name:
Tsinghua-1

Customer:
Tsinghua University, China

Mission:
Earth Observation and Comms demonstration

Mass:
49.7kg

Launch Date:
28 June 2000

Launch Site:
Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia

Launcher:
COSMOS-3M

Orbit:
700km sun-synchronous

SNAP-1: Launched 2000

The SNAP-1 nanosatellite was designed to develop a modular, multi-mission nanosatellite bus (mass range of 10-10kg), to demonstrate the use of miniature electrical and mechanical COTS product technologies in space, and their use as autonomous robots for observing orbiting spacecraft.

SNAP-1 was designed and built as a low-cost research mission by a joint academic-commercial team at the Surrey Space Centre and at SSTL, funded entirely by SSTL.

Satellite & Launch Data

PayloadsDigital Store & Forward Communications
The subsystem provided global, frequency-agile, communications for any form of digitized data: e-mail, voice-mail, scientific data exchange, fax, imagery, or even Internet mail for remote regions. The low cost and direct access offered by the TiungSat-1 microsatellite in orbit also made it ideal for use by scientists, engineers and students based in institutes, universities and even schools throughout the world.

DSPE (Digital Signal Processing Experiment)
The DSPE consisted of a TM320C31 low power DSP suitable for special or general purpose signal processing tasks on LEO satellites. The VHF scanner operated in the 140-150 MHz range. A built-in FSK decoder is used. The system was capable to detect signals from a pre-set signal strength threshold within selected bar. DSP could be used for processing audio transmission for rebroadcast.

CEDEX (Cosmic Ray Energy Deposition Experiment)
The objective of CEDEX was to characterize the TiungSat-1 orbit radiation environment in terms of the observed particle LET (Linear Energy Transfer) spectrum at the spacecraft.

Experimental Microsatellite GPS, an SSTL/ESA collaboration.
An advanced 12-channel GPS receiver with two GPS patch antennas was installed for several objectives:

Name:
TiungSat-1

Customer:
ATSB (Malaysia)

Mission:
Earth Observation & Technology Demonstrator

Mass:
50.8kg

Launch Date:
26 September 2000

Launch Site:
Baikonur Kosmodrome, Kazakhstan

Launcher:
DNEPR

Orbit:
650km sun-synchronous

UoSAT-12: Launched 1999

UoSAT-12 was an experimental mission used to demonstrate and test a number of new technologies, including imaging cameras, and a high-speed 1 Mbit/s S-band downlink (the MERLION experiment). An Internet Protocol stack was uploaded to the satellite, allowing experiments in extending the Internet to space to be made by NASA Goddard as part of its Operating Missions as Nodes on the Internet (OMNI) effort.

In January 2000, UoSat-12 imaged a lunar eclipse. It also achieved a number of "Firsts" in space - click Discover More.

Satellite & Launch Data

UoSAT-12 was the first satellite to have a web address in orbit. On 25th January 2001, UOSAT-12 became the first web server in space when an Internet Protocol stack was uploaded to the satellite, allowing experiments in extending the Internet to space to be made by NASA Goddard as part of its Operating Missions as NOdes on the Internet (OMNI) project.

UoSAT-12 was the first satellite to use Nitrous Oxide as a propellent in an experimental resistojet thruster. It used 100W of power, achieved 50mN of thrust and it ran at up to 1000 degrees centrigrade.

UoSAT-12 was also the first satellite to demonstrate autonomous orbit control using on-board GPS and the propulsion system to maintain a drag-free orbit over a period of months. In September 2000, the autonomous orbit control system developed with Microcosm USA, on-board UoSAT-12 operated continuously for 29 days and demonstrated accurate autonomous in-track orbit control under the adverse conditions of long GPS outages and an initial halving of thrust followed by a return to full thrust midway into the run.

The launch of UoSAT-12 represented the first commercial mission on the DNEPR rocket, converted from the former Soviet Union's arsenal of SS-18 Satan missiles (all of which have to be destroyed or used for peaceful purposes under the START arms reduction treaty). The DNEPR vehicle was created in 1997 under an agreement between the Russian and Ukrainian space agencies.

Name:
UoSAT-12

Customer:
SSTL

Mission:
Earth Observation and Technology Demonstrator

Mass:
312kg

Launch Date:
21 April 1999

Launch Site:
Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan

Launcher:
DNEPR

Orbit:
650km sun-synchronous

Clementine: Launched 1999

The satellite platform for the Clementine mission was designed and built by SSTL, and delivered to the prime contractor Thales Alenia for payload integration. The Clementine satellite was part of an intelligence gathering programme for DGA (France) and its mission was to target low frequency electronic signals from targeted regions in the 20 MHz-1 GHz range.

Thai-Paht (TMSat): Launched 1998

Thai-Paht was the first Thai microsatellite and was launched in 1998 for Mahanikorn University in Bangkok. A team of 12 engineers from the University completed atechnology transfer programme in the UK with SSTL.

FASat-Bravo: Launched 1998

FASat-Bravo was the second Chilean experimental microsatellite in orbit, built under a technology transfer program between the Chilean Air Fore and SSTL. The FASat program included the training of Chilenian engineers at SSTL.

FASat-B was a replacement for FASat-A which failed to separate correctly from the primary payload.

Satellite & Launch Data

Name:
FASat-Bravo

Customer:
Chilean Air Force

Mission:
Earth Observation

Mass:
55kg

Launch Date:
10th July 1998

Launch Site:
Baikonur Kosmodrome, Kazakhstan

Launcher:
ZENIT

Orbit:
N/A

FASat-A: Launched 1995

FASat-Alpha was the first Chilean experimental microsatellite in orbit, built under a technology transfer program between the Chilean Air Fore and SSTL. The FASat program included the training of Chilenian engineers at SSTL.

FASat-A was launched on August 31, 1995 as a secondary payload to the Ukrainian SICH-1 satellite on a Russian Cyclone-3 vehicle. Unfortunately, the separation mechanism to release FASat-Alpha from SICH-1 failed to operate and some time after the launch, FACh and SSTL declared the spacecraft as lost. The primary payload, SICH-1, was able to perform its observation functions unharmed with the FASat-A permanently attached to it.

Satellite & Launch Data

The FASat-B satellite was built as a replacement to FASat-A and launched in 1998.

Name:
FASaT-A

Customer:
Chilean Air Force

Mission:
Earth Observation

Mass:
55kg

Launch Date:
31 August 1995

Launch Site:
Plesetsk Kosmodrome, Russia

Launcher:
Tsyclon

CERISE: Launched 1995

Cerise was a French military reconnaissance satellite. Its main purpose was to intercept HF radio signals for French intelligence services.

It was hit by a catalogued space debris object from an Ariane rocket in 1996, making it the first verified case of a collision between two objects in space. The collision tore off a 4.2-metre (13-foot) portion of Cerise's gravity-gradient stabilisation boom, which left the satellite severely damaged, and its performance was severely compromised.

HealthSat-2: Launched 1993

It was launched on the 25th September 1993, and joined HealthSat-1 (UoSAT-3) as the second SSTL microsatellite in the HealthNet global communications system of SatelLife, a U.S. non-profit organization. HealthNet provided desperately needed low cost 'last mile' communication links between medical institutions and health programmes in the developing world.

Satellite & Launch Data

The HealthSat-2 mission was completed from concept to launch within one year. SSTL was responsible for the design, construction test and in-orbit commissioning of the satellite and were also responsible for all the programmatic aspects of the mission including procuring the launch.

Name:
HealthSat-2

Customer:
Satelife, USA

Mission:
Communications

Mass:
44kg

Launch Date:
26 September 1993

Launch Site:
Kourou, French Guyana

Launcher:
ARIANE-4

PoSAT-1: Launched 1993

PoSAT-1, the first Portuguese satellite, was launched into orbit on September 26, 1993, from the Kourou Space Centre, French Guiana.

PoSAT-1 was an earth observation and technology demonstration mission. It carried two imagers, one with a wide field of view with 2 km ground resolution, the second narrow field imager provided 200m ground resolution. It also carried a Cosmic Ray Experiment and a Digital Signal Processing Experiment.

Satellite & Launch Data

The PoSAT project was developed by a consortium of universities and companies in Portugal and a team of seven Portuguese engineers worked alongside SSTL employees on the build of the microsatellite.

PoSAT-1 stopped transmitting in 2006.

Name:
PoSAT-1

Customer:
INETI (Portugal)

Mission:
Technology Demonstration

Mass:
49kg

Launch Date:
26th September 1993

Launch Site:
Kourou, French Guyana

Launcher:
ARIANE-4

KITSAT-1: Launched 1992

Launched in 1992, KITSAT-1 was developed through a collaborative program between KAIST and the University of Surrey. The main objective of the KITSAT-1 program was to acquire satellite technology through the training and education of satellite engineers.

The success of the KITSAT-1 program marked the beginning of space technology development for South Korea, who now have their own commercial satellite manufacturer, SaTReC.

Satellite & Launch Data

Name:
KITSAT-1

Customer:
KAIST

Mission:
Technology Demonstration

Mass:
48.6kg

Launch Date:
10th August 1992

Launch Site:
Kourou, French Guyana

Launcher:
ARIANE-4

S80/T: Launched 1992

The S80/Tmission was sponsored by CNES and carried an experimental VHF transponder manufactured by Dassault and weighing 7kg, for characterising the radio environment in the 148 to 149.9MHz band in preparation for the proposed S80 constellation mobile communications and positioning system.

Satellite & Launch Data

The 50.0kg microsatellite is box shaped with dimensions 350x350x650mm, with four solar panels on the larger facets delivering 25W orbit average, and a 6m gravity gradient boom.

The spacecraft finally suffered electrical failure due to total dose effects in October 1999.

Name:
S80/T

Customer:
Matra Marconi for CNES

Mission:
Technology Demonstration

Mass:
50kg

Launch Date:
10 August 1992

Launch Site:
Kourou, French Guinea

Launcher:
ARIANE-4

UoSAT-5: Launched 1991

UoSAT-5 was launched on the second ARIANE (40) ASAP on mission V44 on the 17th July 1991 alongside three other secondary payloads ORBCOMM-X, SARA and TUBSAT-1, and main payload the European Space Agency's ERS-1.

UoSAT-5 carried a digital Store and Forward communications and Earth Imaging payload, which were enhanced versions of the UoSAT-4 payloads. The spacecraft operated in the amateur satellite communications service providing a research test bed for new and efficient LEO protocols.

Satellite & Launch Data

Name:
UoSAT-5

Customer:
University of Surrey

Mission:
EO, Comms, Science

Mass:
50kg

Launch Date:
17th July 1991

Launch Site:
Kourou, French Guiana

Launcher:
ARIANE-4

UoSAT-3 and UoSAT-4 Launched 1990

UoSAT-3 was the first of the SSTL modular microsatellites and it carried a commercial Store and Forward communications payload with 13MByte of solid state storage and VHF and UHF 9600 bps CPFSK links. For the first 18 months it supported amateur service, but when this was taken over by UoSAT-5, it supported VITA, and later SatelLife as HealthSat-1, and Data Trax Inc. (USA).

Satellite & Launch Data

The primary 80C186 on-board computer failed in May 1997, and it was decided that the Store and Forward transponder operations for VITA would be taken over by the more capable PoSAT-1, rather than develop operational software for UoSAT-3’s secondary processor (based on the Zilog Z80). In 1999 the satellite was configured as an FM voice repeater (VHF to UHF) within the amateur service.

UoSAT-4 contained the scientific payloads to complement UoSAT-3, but the satellite failed due to an electrical fault after two days in orbit. The 47.5kg microsatellite was identical in shape to UoSAT-3. Most of the experiments on UoSAT-4 were re-flown in 1991 on UoSAT-5.

Name:
UoSAT-3 and UoSAT-4

Customer:
University of Surrey

Mission:
Technology Demonstration

Mass:
50kg

Launch Date:

22 January 1990

Launch Site:
Kourou, French Guiana

Launcher:
ARIANE-4

UoSAT-2: Launched 1984

UoSAT-2 was the second satellite from the University of Surrey and carried the first operational digital Store and Forward communications payload, a telemetry downlink at 148.825MHz 1200bps, a prototype CCD camera, and an S-band beacon operating at 2401.5MHz.

UoSAT-2 played an important role in the Soviet-Canadian 1988 Polar Bridge Expedition (also known as SkiTrek) which began on March 3, 1988 when a group of thirteen Russian and Canadian skiers set out from Siberia in an attempt to ski to Canada over the North Pole. The nine Russians and four Canadians reached the Pole at the 25th of April where they were welcomed by a group of dignitaries from the Soviet-Union and Canada, members of the international press and radio amateurs involved in support and communications.

The daily progress of the skiers was followed by many thousands of school children and radio amateurs all around the world, who listened to the voice synthesizer on board the UoSAT-2, which transmitted the latest known position of the expedition in FM on the two meter VHF Amateur Radio band, using digitised voice, and through progress reports, produced regularly by AMSAT-NA which were distributed world-wide through Amateur Packet Radio and orbiting amateur satellites.

Satellite & Launch Data

Name:
UoSAT-2

Customer:
University of Surrey

Mission:
Communications

Mass:
60kg

Launch Date:
1st March 1984

Launch Site:
VAFB, USA

Launcher:
THOR DELTA

UoSAT-1: Launched 1981

UoSAT-1 was the first satellite designed and built by Martin Sweeting and a small team of research scientists at the University of Surrey. They set out to investigate and demonstrate the feasibility of the design, construction and launch of a scientific small satellite at low cost. The satellite program was completed within a 30 month time-scale, and within a budget of £250,000.

UoSAT-1 signals were heard, decoded and analysed by thousands of radio amateurs, schools, colleges, and universities around the world.

Satellite & Launch Data

In April 1982, after seven months in orbit, the satellite uplink was inadvertently blocked by the downlink, preventing commands from being received. This situation lasted until September, but with the assistance of the Stanford Research Institute in the US, this situation was solved. The predicted orbital lifetime was 3.5 years, but the satellite was only to decay more than 8 years later on the 13th October 1989, whilst still operational.

UoSAT-1 was the first modern microsatellite with in-orbit re-programmable computers.